Judge Kaplan Issues Permanent Injunction Over ICE Conditions at 26 Federal Plaza, 127-Page Ruling

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan issued a permanent injunction on September 24, 2026, in a 127-page ruling ordering ICE to overhaul conditions at its detention holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. Kaplan found ICE had “objectively deprived detainees of sleep, sanitary living conditions, basic personal hygiene needs, sufficient food and water,” writing that overcrowding forced detainees to “try to sleep while sitting upright.” The injunction requires at minimum 50 square feet of floor space per detainee, clean mats and pillows, lighting dimmed between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., attorney phone calls within one hour of detention, on-site medical screening before placement in holding rooms, and hygiene supplies within one day of detention; Documented NY and Axios additionally report temperature and meal requirements (68-74°F, three daily meals with bottled water) as part of the same order. Kaplan noted ICE “complied with its orders only when convenient for them,” describing conditions as “dreadful,” “squalid,” “inhumane and unconstitutional.”

This is the conditions trial canon flagged as scheduled: a Second Circuit entry recorded the 26 Federal Plaza conditions trial on Kaplan’s calendar for May 26, 2026 (2026-04-28–second-circuit-rules-ice-mandatory-detention-policy-illegal), and Kaplan’s own earlier TRO in the same matter — sleeping mats, hygiene access, medical care, dated August 12, 2025 — is referenced in the Adelanto conditions ruling as the court’s first intervention at this site (2026-07-16–sykes-enjoins-ice-adelanto-conditions-two-independent-monitors). The permanent injunction is the trial’s outcome: a federal court finding, after a full record, that the “black site” characterization some outlets (Newsweek, per the capturing ledger) applied to the facility reflects conditions a judge has now found unconstitutional and ordered remedied with specific, measurable standards rather than general directives.